High Notes 06-16-2011
Jim Kegley
Scioto Voice
Wheelersburg, Ohio
It was 66-years and 5-weeks ago, on May 8, 1945, that the war in Europe ended and that date is remembered as V-E Day.
My half-brother, Theodore (Ted) Dunham, was a Private First Class member of the U.S. Army Medical Department, “Medic” attached to the 242nd Infantry Regiment serving in Germany when the war ended.
On 15 March, just a few weeks before the war ended, Ted and his Company I, were attacked by the Germans. They were penned down near Melch, France, by “intense artillery, mortar, and machine gun fire”. My brother, Ted, “noticed an infantryman lying wounded in terrain exposed to the deadly barrage. Braving the murderous fire, he advanced to the side of the injured man and succeeded in helping him to a covered position where he promptly administered first aid. By his courageous and unhesitating action, Private Dunham undoubtedly saved his wounded comrade from further injury or possible death.”
This information was contained in an official extract, dated February13, 1946, by Lt. Col., General Staff Corps, Actg, Chief of Staff, by command of Major General Collins. The extract explained that Ted was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster, to be added to his Bronze Star, which had been authorized by the President in an extract dated, February 1, 1946.
Ted’s Bronze Star was awarded for, “Heroic achievement in action on 11 April 1945, near Schweinfurt, Germany. During an intense artillery concentration near Schweinfurt, Germany, Company I suffered numerous casualties. Private Dunham, medical man with the company, left the safety of his foxhole many times throughout the day to treat the casualties and prepare them for evacuation. Fearlessly braving the murderous enemy fire, he administered first aid to ten of the twenty-one wounded throughout the day. Private Dunham’s courageous action and unselfish determination saved many lives during the day and were an inspiration to his comrades”.
This battle occurred, one day before, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died, April 12, 1945.
I have told the story before about seeing my mother softly weeping as she stood ironing clothes, and when I asked her why she was crying, she said, “Our President Roosevelt died today”. I was six-years at the time, and Ted, was 20 and still in Germany where the 242nd Infantry Regiment had a solemn commemoration of Roosevelt’s death, while on a battlefield in Germany.
Of course, Ted had always been a hero to me, but in all the years I never knew the stories about his service medals until last year when Helen, Ted’s widow, sent copies of the above citations to their daughter, Roseanne Evans, of Huber Heights, near Dayton. Thankfully Roseanne sent copies to her Uncles and Aunts.
Ted, like so many of that “Greatest Generation”, never talked about his war experiences. Ted died in 1982, at 62. He was retired from the Norfolk & Western Railroad.
I do remember that Ted told me that his outfit had been at the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. I subsequently verified via the internet, that, although “the 45th Thunderbirds Division actually liberated Dachau, the “42nd was right beside them on 29 April, 1945”.
My mother, Mary E. Kegley, had been married to Ted’s father, Theodore Dunham of Wakefield, when he was accidentally killed while working for the power company, and she was pregnant with Ted. She later married my father, Forest, and had nine more children.
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